When my oldest son, Evan, graduated from high school and
because of finances was unable to go to college, the option of
joining the military was discussed and I immediately rejected it.
When Evan asked why, I told him as long as someone who had
written that he ``loathed the military’’ was the
commander-in-chief I didn’t want him to join the service.
I wasn’t trying to be disrespectful of our new president but
I firmly believed that he did not have the right stuff to be in
charge of our huge military might. One of the necessary
requirements to running the country should be a healthy respect
for its military and clearly, to me, Clinton not only did not
respect it but he didn’t have any clear concept of how to
use this awesome power. In addition I didn’t believe that he
would surround himself with a staff experienced in military
affairs
Now we are deeply involved in the civil war in Kosovo. Why?
Everyone is afraid to criticize this latest undertaking because
they don’t want to endanger the lives of our service
personnel dispatched to the region. Unfortunately, this hands-off
treatment enables the president to continue his woefully inept
venture into foreign policy involving the military.
This civil war in Kosovo has been simmering for six centuries. As
in Vietnam, we are underestimating the resolve of the aggressor.
Unlike the Iraqis, the Serbian forces, allies of the Russians
have received superior military training. The area itself is
mountainous and the Serbs can dig in and avoid heavy casualties
from the bombings.
Are the bombings a mistake? Certainly not to my neighbors who are
Albanians. According to the President, they were needed to stop
the atrocities and genocide against the ethnic Albanians by the
Serbians. He said, “We act to prevent a wider war, to defuse
a powder keg in the heart of Europe that has exploded twice
before in this century with catastrophic results…By acting
now, we are upholding our values, protecting our interests and
advancing the cause of peace.”
Sounds nice, but what does it mean? More importantly, exactly
what are those values we want to uphold. Certainly, those values
weren’t anywhere around when nearly a million Tsutis and
Hutus, a million!!!, were butchered and slaughtered in Rwanda.
The newsmagazines showed full color pictures of the hacked up
bodies floating in the river but for the life of me I can’t
recall any presidential press conference expressing concern about
the situation.
The argument is that we are a part of NATO and this civil war
affects the alliance countries and therefore we as the sole
remaining superpower need to support them. Therefore it is in our
national interest to stem the unrest in Europe and prevent
further turmoil. Oh really?
Well, this sole remaining superpower also has troops in Bosnia,
North Korea, Haiti keeping the peace and we have to ask
ourselves, why now? Is this another wag the dog scenario minus
the sexual peccadilloes?
This administration took campaign contributions from the
Communist Chinese in 1996. Latest reports indicate that the
Chinese have totally infiltrated our nuclear defense system. Were
the questions about his Chinese connection and the spy at Los
Alamos getting too uncomfortable for Clinton? Am I being cynical?
Absolutely!
One of the first things Clinton did after rising to the
presidency was to cut the defense budget. The great military
machine that awed the world in the Gulf War suddenly became
vulnerable and it wasn’t long before we were hearing of
almost weekly crashes of army and navy jets in unexplained
accidents. I even suspected sabotage rather than maintenance
cutbacks and bad military policy but the nightmare was just
beginning.
In December of 1992, President George Bush sent a small unit of
soldiers to Somalia on a mercy mission to deliver food to
starving Somalians. By May of 1993, their mission completed, they
came home. So why were 18 U.S. serviceman in Somalia killed in
October and why were two of their bodies dragged through the
streets of Mogadishu spat upon and desecrated by angry Somalians?
Defense Secretary Les Aspin who had caved in to UN demands denied
urgent calls for backup by trapped U.S. Rangers.
Poor Les was replaced and a short time later died of a stroke
said to have been brought on by tremendous guilt about the
tragedy. I don’t blame Mr. Aspin because he simply was not
qualified for this position. If a man claims to loathe the
military he is unlikely to surround himself with a staff
ideologically geared for combat experience. In addition, many
experienced career personnel have since left the military in
protest of the current commander, leaving a void in the quality
of our armed forces leadership.
We are increasingly being viewed as a paper tiger because of
feckless leadership. When Clinton was in Ghana in 1998 and was
suddenly surrounded by a mob of ecstatic fans the TV cameras
caught a look of terror on his face. If this man is so cowed by
well-wishers it is no wonder he dreaded being sent to Vietnam. I
myself dread the announcement that we have sent ground troops
into Kosovo and I am trying very hard to control my anger.
When the Berlin Wall fell, I was overjoyed that the Cold War had
ended and my children would be able to live in a safer world. Now
we are in the midst of a conflict that may escalate into another
world war. Chinese missiles now have the capability of reaching
our shores. Our military forces are stretched to the limit and we
are facing a new millennium more vulnerable than we would have
been under stronger leadership. I am so glad that Evan listened
to me but my heart goes out to those families with sons and
daughters in the service. Pray for them.
For all those who believed in 1992 and 1996 that, ”it’s
the economy, stupid” I hope that you now realize that it
should have been and always should be about character.